A friend who is a cabinet maker and owns a fine hardwoods company likes Hickory better than any of the beautiful domestic and exotic woods he sells. It’s a great looking desk in the picture, and I’ll bet it’s even nicer ‘up close and personal’.

I agree with you guys about Hickory. It has a warm, deep grain that can have wonderful figure. Definitely under-utilized! I rate it right up there with quarter-sawn white oak for a great traditional look and feel. It is dense and heavy.

I found that Hickory can be finicky, tearing-out, especially when hand-tooling, and warping after milling. I buy it rough or oversize and mill it down, being careful to take meat off of each face evenly and then let it rest a day or two before final milling/assembly. Hickory has very particular grain, wanting to be worked in one direction but many woods do. I love working with it.

Thanks dozuki. This was a plan ordered from Taunton Press. I learned ww building bars (think saloons) from blueprints so I usually work from plans. I’m shrinking the dimensions of this desk to make a companion coffee table.